Dish Q2 Earnings Miss Expectations

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Company loses 10,000 subscribers vs. 135,000 in same three months a year ago

Dish Network Corp posted a lower profit for the second quarter that missed Wall Street estimates, as the second-largest satellite television operator in the United States spent more to acquire subscribers.

The company's net income fell to $225.7 million, or 50 cents per share, from $334.8 million, or 75 cents per share, a year earlier.

Adjusted for a charge related to a satellite license, the company posted earnings of 59 cents per share. That missed Wall Street estimates by nine cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The company had said in a regulatory filing in July that it lost 10,000 net subscribers in the three months ended June 30, a vast improvement from a year earlier, when the company lost 135,000 subscribers.

Dish fared better than larger rival DirecTV, which lost 52,000 subscribers in the second quarter, its first quarter of net subscriber losses.

Dish generated slightly more revenue per subscriber in the second quarter at $78.11, an increase of 5 cents from a year earlier.

After a dispute over programming fees, Dish dropped AMC Networks, home of the "Breaking Bad" and "Mad Men" TV shows, on July 1. Dish said the move had no material impact on its churn rate or subscriber numbers in the three months to June 30.

The numbers do not reflect the month of July, when a new season of the popular show "Breaking Bad" premiered. The company said it "cannot predict with any certainty the future impact" on its subscriber base from its decision to drop the network.